Chage of plans. I'm buying a helmet from an inmate who lives in San Diego, so that's the trip for Saturday. More slab than I wanted, but more sand, sun, and coffee. And a beautiful city. Oh yes, there will be gelato...

Took the trip to San Diego yesterday to pick up the helmet. William, thanks a lot! Love the thing. First time I've had a helmet on that actually flows air through the vents!

Figured, while I was going, I'd make a day of it. I moved away from San Diego about 20 years ago and figured I'd see how much has changed. Some hasn't. Some has big time! I'll get to that as I go.

Started out at the donought shoup for a donought and coffee:

No, I didn't ask if they made the orange chicken and the donuts with the same grease. Don't want to know, the donuts rock! Also noticed in this picture, the reflective tape works!

Got onto the slab (405 south) and immediately ran into a 7 or 8 mile detour, as I forgot they were replacing a bridge. When I finally got around the semi that was blocking my ability to split lanes, it wasn't too bad, but still frustrating. Got back on the slab, and with the delay caused by the detour, it was time for a smoke and coffee at the rest stop, the same one I stopped at on the Palomar ride. Different day, different dude on the coffee cup:

Pulled off the 8 once I got close to where we were going to meet and saw this. Evidentally, Casper has become a transvestite:

After a little mixup in which Von's I was supposed to be at, he showed up with my new to me Shoei RF-1000. Good fit and comfy and, like I said, the vents rock!

My Quest is now a backup.

I decided to take the 8 down to O.B.(Ocean Beach), my favorite stomping grounds in the 80's. Not much has changed there! O.B. is like walking into one of those kind of seedy beach towns I remember from when I was a kid in the 60's and 70's. Bars, not real clean streets, hippies, punkers, and cool little shops. If you ever visit the San Diego area, I highly reccomend it. Stay there, you'll have more fun than staying in downtown San Diego, trust me.

Went by Winston's, a bar off Newport where I saw a lot of good bands in the 80's. The Chilli Peppers played there one night when they were nobody, and Shilo (now called Big Mountain) were regulars. Had to get a picture of the Winston's dancing guy just for memory's sakd:

Man, did I drink a lot of beer and tequila there!

Came across a bus that's just about the size most inmates here took to school:

San Diego still appears to be Harley country, as most of the bikes I'd seen up to then were Harleys. I took a photo of this one just because it appears to actually be ridden hard and often and, no matter the bike, I can appreciate that:

I bet I can post a nice picture of a woody here and not get banned...

This girl appeared to be gazing out to sea daydreaming, and I like the shot:

Like every beach that has one, I decided to take a walk up the pier. Notice the for rent signs...if it weren't for the 2+ hour commute I'd move tomorrow!

Looking up the beach from the pier:

A dude and his happy kids:

O.B. is a pretty popular surf joint however, if it's anything like it was, it's locals or invite only (unofficially), just trust me on this. If you want to surf here, get to know a local and you'll be set...just do that first.

Another view of the apartments for rent. Seriously, I wonder if they need boiler operators in San Diego?

Time to walk back to the bike and get some grub on the way. How's this for interesting businesses in a business building?

This is where I ate. Had this thing they call a surf and turf burrito. It had carne asada and shrimp with guacamole, cheese, french fries and this bitchen' home made salsa! Fricken incredible! I used to grab some chicken there back in the day. Great food at good prices!

A buddy of mine told me later that this place was on some food show called Diners and Dives or something. I'm not a t.v. guy, so I've never seen it, but whoever produces the show sure picked a winner!

I decided to head on over to a coffee house I used to hang out at called Gelato Vero. Other than the installation of rails and getting rid of the upstairs smoking section (boo!) it hasn't changed much over the last 30 years. Still good coffee and the best gelato on the west coast, bar none! It's in the Mission Hills district on the corner of Washington and India. If you are ever in San Diego it's definatelly worth a stop!

Parked a couple blocks away to avoid the meters. Hey, I own a KLR, of course I'm cheap!

Some shots on the way: A cool sculpture on the side of a bar/grille:

It may sound paranoid, but I think Dr. Who is following me:

MMM, spumoni gelato and iced coffee:

I started to realise that the 60 hr. week I worked last week had worn me down, so I kicked it for a while here:

I was getting sick of only seeing harleys (San Diego's full of them!) so when other bikes went by I took pictures. A dude splitting on his duc:

A happy guy on his XR:

Then the coolest bike all day showed up. This dude showed up with his wife on his 250 Elsinore! That is the bike I wanted as a kid, the bike I was going to get when the salesman (an uncle) talked me into buying my Rickman instead. Loved the Rickman, don't get me wrong, but still always lusted after that Elsinore (I was 13 remember). The guy bought this one off Craigslist for 1100 bucks and it was not only registered but fired right up! I have to check Craigs List more often!

His wife's bike was cool too. He said he used the sticker kit to cover some scratches. Cool job!

Hmm, don't quite know what's happening here, the photos are okay in photobucket, but aren't rotated here...bear with the new guy please! I'll try and fix them later.

This is what has changed about San Diego, the Gaslamp District. I remember going there in the 80's and it was nothing but crappy bars where a fight could break out at any moment, porn shops and theaters, hookers, bikers, sailers, ptomaine tainted food joints, crack houses, flop houses and drunk "hotels". It was beautiful! A place where an old sweaty motorcycle guy in an old Tom and Jerry tee shirt fit right in! They have turned it into a yuppie paradise. High end resturants, wine bars, coffee houses that look like tea rooms and high end cigar shops. Now I like a good cigar as much as anyone, but the shope I go to here in Long Beach accept you no matter who you are. These had dudes in suits and ties on a Saturday! I was afraid to go in as I thought I'd get kicked back out! Fricken hated the whole neighborhood! Here's some pictures, anyways.

Nice knockers!

This is just blatent false advertising:

A statue in front of a bar called "Dick's Last Stand". Classic faux dive. If anyone showed up actually looking like this guy, they probably wouldn't let him in:

I couldn't stand the smell of douchey trendiness anymore, so it was back to the bike. Yes, I even found free parking in the Gaslamp!

Started back home, and got sick of the slab near San Clemente. Stopped for coffee (look familiar?).

Yup, the ice coffee was so good last time I decided to stop again. Played around with this cute puppy for a while:

Then I headed on down PCH and stopped at Doheny Beach. The bridge over PCH and the r.r. tracks made me feel like I was being walked out of the cell block:

The scenery was amazing:

Oh ya, this scenery too:

Yup, the beach is rocky:

Evidently this beach is for sunning and not for swimming:

Back on PCH towards home, I decided to stop at Sunset beach for gas. While filling, I saw this across the parking lot:

When I walked up, however, I saw this:

"You killed Coffee! You Bastards!"

Walking back to the gas station, I saw this dumpster.Don't know who Earl is, but the chicks dig him I guess:

A nice Goat pulled in for a fill up:

These bikes are for lookin' and not ridin':

Soon I was back in Long Beach at my favorite coffee house, Portfolio on 4th and Junipero, enjoying yet another urban sunset:

Got up yesterday a tad bit later than I wanted due to a friend's 30th birthday party. No, didn't drink, but did stay kind of late, so I didn't get up until about 8 and took off for Big Bear about 9. Started on the slab for 80 miles (boring, but the slab does kind of relax when there is no traffic and you can wrap your head around it).

Took the 91 to the 15 to the 10 to the 215 and got off at Waterman, as I like going up that side of the mountain. Hadn't been up there for a few years and I used to live up there, so it was kind of nice going. Hit a gas station and they were open but were re-modelling so they had NO COFFEE! How dare they?

So, up to Crestline it was. Unlike going up Palomar, where tight decreasing radius turns are the rule of the day, Big Bear Mountain is full of big, fun sweepers a' plenty. Lots of fun, but do yourself a favor if you go there, get off at Waterman and go up that way. So much prettier and better curves!

Made it to Crestling and found a coffee house and, right across the street, this house

This was my the house that my buddy bought back in the 80's and I helped with a lot of the repairs. Going to the mountains and working/playing on the weekends was good therapy after the divorce. It's cool to see the little place still in good shape!

In the parking lot were a couple of cruisers. Now I'm not a cruiser dude to begin with and usually don't like that no paint rat rod look, but it worked on this one:

A picture of the coffee house sign. The iced coffee was bitchen' and it's definatelly worth the stop!

I had to stop at Lake Gregory to pay some respects. A few years ago when I was a railroad engineer, a co-worker passed away. She was a bit more than a co-worker and had become like family. I did holidays at her house, we exchanged gifts with her family on Christmas and such. She died of a sudden stroke at 47 years old. One of her favorite things was trout fishing on Lake Gregory, so we sprinkled her ashes there. Sad moment, but a beautiful place. Here's the lake:

And a duck:

A woman enjoying an outboard:

Some nice houses across the lake:

More ducks:

Okay, so I like ducks, what of it?

From Lake Gregory, I went up the Rim of the World highway. Why do they call it that you may ask? Here's a couple pics from the side of the road. The first one doesn't do the view any justice, and the second one was taken not from a plane, but from the side of the road with a little zoom:

Just beautiful views on a fun road. I took it to the town of Running Springs, where I stopped to eat.

Two stores nest to each other in Running Springs. It makes you wonder what they do for fun there...Family Jewels next to Leather and Lace? Sounds like good times...

Here's where I stopped:

Good old fasioned American food. Sorry, no pictures, I scarfed it too quick! While I was having a smoke in the parking lot I heard a racket and saw this little guy hanging out outside a pet shop:

A little shot of the bustling metropolis of Running Springs:

This is the only bar in town (I think). I wonder if they even know what the rainbow colored letters might suggest...

I went up to Big Bear and decided to take the long way around through Fawnskin. What a surprise! That road, back in the day, used to be little travelled as it wasn't in the best of shape and had some nice, tight curves. Well it seems like they wanted more tourists over there, so they re-paved and it seems they straightened it out. And tourists they got! It was annoying as hell, following these minivans and suv's that would just stop in the middle of the street to look at the pretty water. I saw a side road that said it lead to Holcomb Valley, so I just took it. About a mile or so in was a sigh that says pavement ends. Now the road looked familiar from back in the day and it just turned into a well maintained fire road. I wasn't prepared for any serious dirt, as I had no water, no tubes and had (doh!) left my cell phone at home, but I figured a nice fire road would be no issue. Unfortunatelly, I lost some of the pictures from this little jaunt, but here's a couple taken about 5 miles in when I stopped for a smoke:

A KLR on a dirt road, where it belongs:

Abush (for no reason what-so-ever):

About 8 miles in there was a tiny paved intersection. For some reason they paved the intersection despite all the roads being dirt. Anyhow, I ran into these guys:

They were checking their gps and we shot the shit for a bit. One was from San Diego, one from Fullerton (I believe) and another from Anaheim. I had decided to go back the way I came, as I didn't want to go further not being prepared. One thing I didn't mention, either here or to these guys, is that I haven't had any experience with dirt outside well maintained roads since I was in my 20's (I'm 50 now) on my old Rickman 250. Anyhow, one guy told me to take 3n16 (or was it 14) because it's a "real easy road" that leads right back to Big Bear in 8 miles. Cool. Thanks, dude! Turns out, the road was tougher than the one I had been on. First thing I run into is some deep ruts. No biggie, just like the old days, remain standing and pick a path. Must be an anomoly, I thought. Still standing, I hit some nice soft dust and felt the handlebars pitch a bit. Okay, I remain standing...make it through no big deal. The road was nice for a bit, then turned to some serious downhills (for me anyhow) with loose gravel. Here we go! I stayed standing and peeked at my odometer...6 miles...2 to go...nice, I'm going to make it. Yes, there are no pictures because, beautiful as it was, I just wanted to get to civilization knowing how unprepared I was to be riding in the dirt! At 8 miles, more serious downhills with loose gravel, however by now I kind of had my dirt legs back, so it was no big deal...quite fun when I didn't worry about a flat or anything. The road wound up to be 12 miles long, but did kick me out in Big Bear. My first real dirt experience on the KLR, totally unprepared, was really no big deal. I'm going back, definatelly, with water, tubes and tools and will take more pictures and make a day out of it! Big fun! (Actually, I'm kind of proud as I didn't know how I'd handle it after 30 years, but the legs came right back!).

Got to Big Bear and went to the Starbucks (hey, it's got caffeine and I needed a smoke badly by now!). Here's my dusty KLR:

A Von's in the mountains (the view was much better, and I thought it was kind of funny seeing a Von's for some reason):

There was a creepy Santa across the street:

and a couple of sweet sport bikes in the parking lot. Love the new KTM:

I made friends with a nice dog while drinking coffee:

It got to be about 2:30 and I was talking to the dog's owner. Nice guy, lives in Palm Springs in the winter, the mountain in summer. I told him I was going to hang out in the village for a bit, take some pictures. He informed me that Octoberfest was going on. Crap, later there will be drunks going down the mountain! I decided it was a good time to split. Looking at the clock, it was just after 2:30:

I headed down the mountain, and didn't stop for pics or anything. As I got to the freeway, my leftt mirror kept folding in in the wind. Crap, I wasn't going all the way back to Long Beach without a left side mirror! I stopped at Chapparel, fully prepared to buy an aftermarket set of mirrors. When I took the mirror off, I noticed it had a screw to tighten the ball joint on the back. Sweet! Just tighten the screw and head on home. Remember I said I only had the stock tool kit with me? Guess what, the phillip's head screwdriver was too big. Damn! Had to go into Chapparel anyhow and got a 9 dollar screwdriver set. It's a nice little set (and the cheapest they had) that I will keep on the bike, but I really didn't need it. Oh well, back on the road and towards home. The wind was something else! Hitting a headwind on the 10, I had the throttle pinned and could only get 80mph out of the thumper. I thought something was wrong until it dawned on me that I was going into the wind!

Finally got back to Long Beach and stopped for dinner (supper for those of you back east). Stopped here for a fish burrito and a quesidilla:

If you ever get to Long Beach, Hole (I can't make that accent thing) mole is a must. All their fish is amazing. I think the secret ingredient is crack! Sorry, didn't get any food pictures again (I'm slipping...gotta fix that).

Walked over to the store to buy smokes and on the was back saw the full (or at least almost, I didn't check) moon was going to make for a nice urban night:

All in all, a good time was had. Definately have to get in more dirt. Any suggestions you socal people?

I finally had the first Saturday of the month off and got to ride with the South Bay Scooter Club: http://www.southbayscooterclub.com/. Great bunch of people! They ride the first Saturday of the month from the Tony Roma's parking lot in Torrance at the corner of Lomita and Crenshaw, and everyone's welcome. Heck, a Triumph T-600 even showed for the ride! We went to Malibu for a late lunch, and the ride was much fun! Mostly pictures of scooters this time, as we didn't stop at all...well worth it!

As I got to the parking lot, my eyes became glued to these two bikes:

The brown one was a custom made out of an old Honda cub. The man did a great job, and the little Cub kept up all day (note: the engine was highly modified!). The Honda Trail 70 was bumped up with a 110 cc motor, and it also kept up. The custom wheels and tires were cool. I had a little Honda ct70h (4 speed with a clutch) as my first bike. I'm thinking another may be in my future? Just looked like a lot of fun!

"One of these things is not like the others...". A few scooters waiting for the rest.

Cool looking Morpheous:

This showed up just to check out the scooters parked in the lot (the woner noticed them from the street):

A mod's Vespa:

A Ruckus with some type of furry thing (I didn't want to wake it up ):

Mario (the brains behind the club evidently, and a super nice guy) showed up on his vintage Vespa:

By the time the ride started, we were over 20 strong. What a blast! It seems scooters make people smile. We were getting waves, honks and smiles from everyone. Even some hard core old bikers waved us by and smiled and waved the whole time.

A bunch of scooters cruising the beach...where had I seen that before? Oh ya...my mind started chanting "We are the Mods, we are the Mods, we are, we are, we are the Mods." Okay, sorry for the geeky Quadrophenia reference (not really ). No time to stop and take pictures though. We rode almost 3 hours straight through the back roads of the South Bay, Venice, Santa Monica and Malibu before going to Dukes for lunch. Here we are, gathering in the parking lot:

Here's the view throuth the windo at Dukes:

It's a bitchen resturant right on the water with 3 bars and outdoor seating as well, which was unfortunatelly filled. The fish and chips were amazing!

It took all 4 of us at the table to put a dent in this desert:

Took the time to snap a quick picture down the Malibu coast through the fence surrounding the parking lot:

That beer can is a bit depressing...

Some people split early, but there were still scooters waiting for their riders:

The windshield of a mod:

A Piagio 3 wheeler. The owner said it handled almost like a regular scooter but feels a little front weighted:

Here's the sign for Duke's. If you wind up in Malibu with a couple bucks (okay, maybe 20) in your pocket, stop by.

More scooters waiting for their owners to split:

And scooterist getting ready to ride home:

All ages are welcome!

I peeled off from the group where Highway 1 (PCH) turns to Lincoln Ave. Just stayed on PCH all the way back to Long Beach. It was a great ride, and I'm looking forward to nest month (I have it off!) Got to Portfolio for coffee and realized I hadn't taken any pictures of my scooter all day, so here it is, waiting to take me home after a long, fun day:

I won't be riding much nest weekend as I'm getting dental surgery Thursday, but I have an idea for later this week. It involves taking the scooter and seeing what adventures I can have without leaving the city limits. I think sometimes we (or at least I) forget to explore my own back yard enough...and once again, thanks for coming along on the ride!

Sorry, haven't been here for a bit. Computer problems, but I have a couple days to post, hopefully soon. One is the International Bike Show and last weekend I took a little trip out to Ojai. Hope to get them up soon!